Shock

"What's going on? Where is everyone!? Where the hell did they all go!?"

In the dark corridor, a man was nearly hysterical, madness gleaming in his eyes.

Even though he had prepared himself before entering this place, what had happened far exceeded his expectations. It was downright bizarre, and the pressure it brought had pushed his sanity to the brink of collapse.

If there had been a direct battle, perhaps he would have felt better. But the problem was that, even after losing his final companion, he still had no idea how any of it had happened.

The only clue he had found was that, at the instant his last companion vanished, he had seen two flickering masses of golden light that seemed to be flames. He only called them flames because they carried no heat whatsoever—not in their existence, nor in the sensation they gave off.

Yes, a sensation. If he had not seen it with his own eyes and felt it himself, he would never have believed that those two flames contained a will. Though faint, it had undeniably brushed across his mind in that instant.

The moment had been too brief for him to comprehend it. This unprecedented "communication" made it impossible for him to fully receive the information in a single attempt.

An instant later, the two golden flames that resembled eyes vanished. So did his final companion. The man had not made a sound, and even at the very end, he had not realized what was happening to him.

"Come out! Come out already!"

He panted heavily. The air around him made his body feel increasingly heavy. He was about to break.

"What? You don't want my life? Then come take it!"

His voice echoed through the passageways, but all that answered him was dead